A Blurry December

I have not updates since my trip to the Village and I have been out and about so I thought I had better write.

Trip to Chiang Mai with Host family
Was so excited to hear that my host mom was going to be visiting her family in Chiang Rai one week before I changed families. We would go for 5 days and tour around the area. My host mom grew up in a small village outside of Chiang Rai and hadn't been back to visit for a while. I remember the day before we left I went into her room to find one the largest bags I have ever seen in my life. I look inside and it is stuffed with clothes. I knock on my mother's walk in closet door and she answers. Inside that room their was another bag half full with all sorts of clothes the ground as well. She said she would bring the clothes for the people in the village who cannot afford clothes. It really made me happy to think that she was so giving and considerate. It was amazing to see how one person could have so many clothes too. We left at 5:00 in the morning from my house and there were only 4 of us going. It was momma, my host brother, Lauren; the exchange student from USA, and me. We had rented a van that would drive us there and back so my mom wouldn't have to drive. We arrived in my host mom's village in the evening and were able to get introduced to everyone and do a bit of exploring. The moment I saw it, the moment I loved it. It was so natural and wonderful. Noone was concerned about where they had to be or where they were going. They were just relaxed and easy going. Sometimes it's easy to lose that in the city. We met my mom's 84 year old dad who is going deaf. He does not speak much but is an amazing man. Everyday he goes around the village on a little bike that requires no peddling just the pulling of a handle. Then he gardens for another part of his day in their backyard. They have pineapple, vegetables, apples... and more. He was such a cute old man and I wish I could have hung out with him a bit more. I was also very lucky to meet my host mom's sister who is.. well a replica of her sister. They are very much alike which made for a hillarious dinner time. The next morning my host mom and I had woken up before the rest of the family so we decided to walk over to her sister's house to say hello and possibly raid her cupboards for a caffenated beverage. Her house was just down the road and had the best view in the village. I drank a lovely cup of natural Thai tea that had steeped over an open fire and watched the sun come up. I had never felt so at ease. After breakfast her sister went quickly to work in the fields to farm rice. I was able to try for a bit and was surprised by how difficult it was. Doing that all day would be quite the workout. Later on that day we headed to a large national park. It was so beautiful and I was excited because we would get to go hiking! My host mom payed a little hill tribe girl to give us the guided tour up the mountain. It was very tall and was wasn't surprised to see the top was closed off with wire to keep people from jumping off the cliff. At the top Lauren and I met a couple from Australia who had been travelling all around Asia for about 8 months now. They were heading home the next day and thought they had better do this hike before they did. Glad to have met them. There were camping spots at the base of the hike to and if I ever come back I will definantly camp there. Anybody interested?
Day 2- Today we headed up to the golden triangle. It was great to go and visit but it has become a huge tourist trap now. I guess the country benefits in some ways from that. There were lots of boat tours going around to show you Myanmar and Laos. I wasn't expecting to go until my host mom handed me a ticket and said it leaves in 5 minutes. All of us hopped aboard and before I knew it we were sailing down the Mekong with Myanmar to my left, Laos to my right, and Thailand behind us. Our driver ended up stopping in Laos before our trip was over too. It was a small island filled with different vendors selling all sorts of things for low prices. It was getting late after our boat trip and ended up staying with some family friends in that town.
Day3: Woke up early to go for a run down the Mekong River which was very close to our house. It was so nice to run beside it. In the day we made a long trip to Chaing Mai then ariving at our hotel in the afternoon. Went to the night bizaar for dinner and then headed in for an early night.
Day4: We went to a lovely flower garden. It was new and well taken care of. The tickets were not cheap but the huge bus full of foreigners that came in probably brought in a good chunk of money. As Lauren and I started exploring the more it reminded me of Granny Audrey's backyard in Mt. Tremblant. I used to run down the little stone steps to get to the lake and I remember the smells, the flowers, the grass, and even the stones that you would have to remember to jump over so you didn't fall. There was a similar atmosphere in this garden and it made me feel like I was back at Granny's house. Love the childhood flashbacks. Lauren and I were very busy exploring actually and hadn't even realized we had roamed into an out of bounds area. It took us some time to find our way back to the trail but had quite the adventure along the way.
Day 5: Woke up early in the morning to enjoy a nice continental breakfast with Lauren after hauling her out of bed. Today was the day I had been waiting for. We were going to go see the long neck tribes. When we arrived to the area there was a small village that was selling bags, and accessories and I didn't see any members of the long neck tribes. After walking a bit longer up the road we came across a sign and explained that this particular area was residence to 15 long neck tribe members who had been recruited from their tribes to come work for wages making handicraft items. As we walked up this steep hill I was able to see my first hill tribe person. She was stunning. She ws probably the same age as me, 18-19. She was sitting down and looked at me as I reached for my picture. I asked for permission and she nodded seemingly unbothered by my interest. The more we walked the more I noticed that the number had clearly grown from 15 members because we had spotted close to 25-30. The rings around their neck were so fascinating but having not seen them before made me feel a bit quesy. The childrens collar bones had been bruised from the pressure of the heavy rings around their necks. I soon learned that they will be add new rings every 2 years. It was such an amazing experience to see something so different. After speaking with one of the members I really understood that they were just normal people with a different definition of beauty within their own society. I bought a small something at her shop and thought about how lucky I was to be in Thailand and seeing this first hand. We headed back to the city to see the large flower festival that happens every year in Chaing Mai and was impressed by their new faicility. They had built a new temple in the center of the gardens where there was performances going on. We walked alot and were beat so headed back for our final night in Chiang Mai.
Day 6: Bye bye Chiang Mai, Hello Gravol!

The Changing of host families and the adoption of another sister.
Well packing was my first obstacle in the changing of host families because I had left it to after I came back from my trip to Chiang Mai. Who knew you collected so much while away? It was sad to say my goodbyes to my host family but knew it was time for another change. Now I would be in the city more and not be able to enjoy the quiet area of Nongsamrong but know that this new home would be great. Also I recently learned that I would be adopting a new sister for the next 4 months too. She is the exchange student from Mexico. She is super nice and was gave me a warm welcome as arrived after her. I know I will learn alot from this experience and will learn how to live with someone else.

Funny story: Before I left for my second host family my mom wanted to take us all for dinner so we tried starting the car but the battery dead. She had to call a friend of her's to give a boost. After about 30 minutes he arrived and started the car. It was great, the car was on and we were all celebrating outside the car. When I try to get in though the car appears to be locked. I guess my host mom had forgotten to unlock the doors. So the doors were locked and the keys were in the ignition. We had to call my host dad whoas away and get him to come in. It was a great night because we laughed about the whole experience over a delicious dinner of sushi.

English Camp:
Well even though I have just arrived to my second host family I will be heading off again. This time to an english camp in the south of Thailand. Nakonayook with the gifted english students in my school. I was looking forward to it because it was being payed for by the generous teachers in the english department. There is me and Jazz at Udon Pitt and she came along as well. We left the school at 10:00pm and got onto a large chartered bus which would take us to our destination. It was an estimated 10 hour drive to get there so the students had brought their singing voices so they could play kareoke into the night. It was good fun to hear them sing along to the subtitles but by 1:00am it was getting a little old and Jazz and I began to protest anymore. In order for me to stay sane I would have to venture downstairs into the VIP section where some of the guys were playing poker just to drown out the sound. Other than the music the drive wasn't too bad. At 8:00am we were all awoken by the loud welcome of a camp leader. He was intructing us to get off the bus to start camp. Noone seemed very excited but we all managed to get off. The first day was mostly orientation. We met the leaders, there were 2 foreigners. One from Ireland and another from the States. I insisted on the camp leaders give me a name tag and a workbook so I could feel a little more involved. The girl from Ireland handed me my name tag and it said poo. Looking at Jazz's I realized it said Pee. I guess I have a new nickname!